Graphic Object Themes

1. A computer-implemented method for providing thematic information to provide a visual theme for documents, comprising: defining a theme object for conveying theme elements to documents; wherein the theme object is defined using a markup language and stored in a theme file; wherein the definition of the theme object in the theme file is maintained separately from other objects that define the document; wherein the other objects comprise: a features part; a data part; and a styles part; wherein the theme object definition includes properties that can be shared and overridden in a hierarchical manner; wherein a schema defines and enforces rules for displaying the theme object; using a first application to author a first document and associating the theme object in the theme file with the first document; wherein the first document is associated with a first file format that includes modular parts that are associated together via a first document relationship hierarchy; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the first file format via the first document relationship hierarchy; and using a second application that is different from the first application to author a second document and associating the theme object in the theme document with the second document wherein the second document is associated with a second file format that includes modular parts that are associated together via a second document relationship hierarchy; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the second file format via the second document relationship hierarchy, such that a single theme object is associated with multiple file formats and documents; wherein associating the theme object in the theme document with the first document and the second document applies the theme elements to the first document and the second document such that the first document and the second document have a common appearance.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second applications are in an application suite.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the theme elements comprise information for colors, fonts, and formatting of a document.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the color information comprises information for foreground and background colors.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the theme elements comprise information for graphic object fills.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a user interface (UI) for defining the theme object.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a user interface (UI) for selecting the theme object.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing theme object information in the first and second documents.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising providing a user interface (UI) for associating the first and second documents with the theme object.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising changing the theme object information in the first and second documents when a change is made to the theme object.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the defining a theme object comprises using a default theme object to instantiate the theme object being defined.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the defining a theme object comprises editing the theme object being defined.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the theme object further comprises content information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the content information is displayed in the first and second documents.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising copying theme object information to a clipboard when a portion of the first document is copied to the clipboard.

16. A system for providing thematic information to provide a visual theme for documents, comprising: a computer readable storage medium encoded with a theme object for conveying thematic information for visual display of documents; wherein the theme object is defined using a markup language and is stored in a theme file; wherein the definition of the theme object is maintained separately within the theme file from other objects that define the document and that are each maintained separately; and wherein a schema defines and enforces rules for displaying the theme object; an operating system executed on a processor; wherein the operating system provides an application programming interface (API) to the theme object; an application suite executed on a processor; wherein the application suite comprises a first application for authoring a first kind of document using the API to the theme object, and comprising a second application that is different from the first application for authoring a second kind of document using the API to the theme object; wherein the first kind of document is associated with a first file format that includes modular parts that are associated together; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the first file format; wherein the second kind of document is associated with a second file format that includes modular parts that are associated together; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the second file format; wherein the theme object provides a common appearance for the first kind of document and the second kind of document.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the first application is a spreadsheet application and the second application is a word processing application.

18. A tangible medium comprising computer-executable instructions for conveying theme elements to a plurality of documents; comprising: associating a theme object with a first document authored by a spreadsheet application; wherein the first document is associated with a spreadsheet file format that includes modular parts that are associated together; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the spreadsheet file format; wherein the theme object is defined using a markup language; wherein the definition of the theme object is maintained separately from other objects that define the spreadsheet file and that are each maintained separately; and wherein a schema defines and enforces rules for displaying the theme object; associating the theme object with a second document authored by a word processing application; wherein the second document is associated with a word processing file format that includes modular parts that are associated together; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the word processing file format; and associating the theme object with a third document authored by a slide presentation application; wherein the second document is associated with a slide presentation file format that includes modular parts that are associated together; wherein the theme object is a modular part that is associated with the slide presentation file format; wherein associating the theme object with the first document, the second document, and the third document provides a common appearance for the first document and the second document and the third document.

19. The tangible medium of claim 18 the instructions further comprising storing the first, second and third documents in a markup language.

20. The tangible medium of claim 19 wherein the markup language is XML.